Month: October 2004
94.3 WMJC becomes Rock AC “Island 94.3”
94.3 WMJC is one of the many Long Island stations that has struggled to find a niche in the Long Island market due to a signal that is unable to cover the entire market. From its Beautiful Music days as WCTO through AC as “Magic 94.3” to a simulcast of 103.9 WRCN, the 94.3 frequency had failed to find a niche. That had begun to change in 1996, when New York City lost its outlet for Country Music. Sister station 740 WGSM had become the only outlet on Long Island for Country. Soon after the format moved to 94.3. By 2000, WMJC had failed to garner anything higher than a 2.0 share 12+ for its troubles. With Rock AC and All 80’s catching on nationwide, Barnstable Broadcasting jumped on the bandwagon on Long Island with the new Island 94.3.
Smooth Jazz 98.9 WJZN Memphis becomes Urban Power 99 WMPW
A little background on this. Back in 2001, Barnstable’s Memphis Radio Group purchased then KTMO 98.9 Kennett, MO, and moved it to Munford Tennessee to serve the Memphis Market. The format chosen was Smooth Jazz. In Kennett, the KTMO call letters and Classic Country format moved to 106.5, as it exists today. Friday, October 15 started with the normal “Smooth Ride” Morning show with Norm Miller, then into the mid-day (vt) show with Rob Moore. The flip was supposed to happen at 12 noon but some problems tweaking the audio were encountered and the new station didn’t sign on until approximately 12:50pm – with no stunt and no fanfare. The new format is going after Clear Channel’s WHRK K-97 and Flinn’s Hot 107.1 This one will shake the market to its core....
1200 WKOX and 1430 WXKS become Air America Boston
The Air America radio network launched in March 2004, and after a slow start, began to pick up many new affiliates by the late summer. Yet Boston, despite being one of the most liberal markets in the country, did not yet have an affiliate. From the launch of the network, much of Air America’s growth was attributed to Clear Channel, which brought the format to failed AM stations in many markets. As it happened, Clear Channel just happened to have two stations in Boston that together would make a perfect home for the new format. WXKS 1430 was a longtime adult standards station, the forgotten sister station of CHR station WXKS-FM. In 2001, WXKS was expected to change format to CNET Radio-provided technology talk, but the format ended up on Mega Communications’ WBPS 890, and the st...
